Inquisitive Pup

[Rachel Hollander]

Another from my 2009 trip to the Sabi Sands in South Africa. This wild dog pup approached briefly for a closer look.

Canon 50D
100-400 @400mm
1/400
f7.1
ISO 200
HH from a safari vehicle, cropped from horizontal, luminosity mask, s/h, levels, curves, sharpened in CS5.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Sid Garige]

Very nice on your face portrait Rachel. Shallow DOF is working great here and like the tight composition. Very well done.

[Ken Watkins]

Rachel,

This is a beauty!

[Jamie Douglas]

Great work on the detail Rachel and nice crop.

[Steve Kaluski]

Very, very nice Rachel, seems like it's all taking shape and the PS work is in the bag. :w3

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Sid, Ken, Jamie and Steve for the kind comments, much appreciated.

Rachel

[Tom Graham]

Sorry but for me the angle of the light, face shadowed, does not work.
Tom

[Steve Kaluski]

Sorry but for me the angle of the light, face shadowed, does not work.

So what improvements, steps would you suggest then Tom?

[Tom Graham]

First, go to to our Roger Clark's web site and study his article on light and light phase angle. http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/lighting.composition.subject/index.html
In this image here the "negative phase angle", using Roger's terms, between light source and camera is too large, perhaps negative 120 degrees?
Sometimes the subject, the light source, and our camera do not, can not, position to make an excellent image. That is wildlife photography.
Tom
ps - when the phase angle becomes extreme at around 180 then we have "back lit" and this offers totally different image possibilities.

[Rachel Hollander]

So Tom, in a situation as here, where the light angle could not be optimally aligned, would you simply not take the photo? Or would you not try to make the best of it? Unfortunately, as you alluded to and because it is wildlife. we cannot always control the light angle or the shooting conditions. We do the best we can and still take photos. Personally, I feel that I've brought out good detail despite the shadow (which was caused by the pup's moving closer to the vehicle) and am happy with the results. While we can do our best to position ourselves correctly, if you spend your life waiting for all conditions to be perfect (or repositioning the vehicle), you'll miss out on a lot of good opportunities and images in the interim.

Rachel

[Steve Canuel]

Sharpness across the eye, nose, and the fur in between trumps any lacking of phase angle for me. I also like the almost sepia tone to the image.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks very much Steve.

[Morkel Erasmus]

So Tom, in a situation as here, where the light angle could not be optimally aligned, would you simply not take the photo? Or would you not try to make the best of it? Unfortunately, as you alluded to and because it is wildlife. we cannot always control the light angle or the shooting conditions. We do the best we can and still take photos. Personally, I feel that I've brought out good detail despite the shadow (which was caused by the pup's moving closer to the vehicle) and am happy with the results. While we can do our best to position ourselves correctly, if you spend your life waiting for all conditions to be perfect (or repositioning the vehicle), you'll miss out on a lot of good opportunities and images in the interim.

Rachel

Fully agree with you here, Rachel. :bg3:
You did very well with the choice of comp/crop here and good detail is visible. Might try just dodging some of the shadows and midtones a tad to bring out some more??

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Morkel for the suggestions. Here's a repost

Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

That's more like it :bg3:...now the facial detail is more arresting.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks very much Morkel:wave:

[peter delaney]

Hi Rachel

I like the image , the intense stare that caught my attention first .
Photography will always attract people who approach photography from a scientific Bkg who believe that a sucessful image must adhere to set rules, and the other extreme are those from a creative Bkg who believe in no rules what so ever.
I believe a photographer wishing to create a good image must balance both , the heart and the mind so to speak.
In this image, you tried to be creative with your crop... And you got the technicals correct as best you could under the circumstances.
And most importantly you got the shot...

Peter

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Peter, I think you summed up the balance of art and science well. :cheers:

[Ken Watkins]

Hi Rachel

I like the image , the intense stare that caught my attention first .
Photography will always attract people who approach photography from a scientific Bkg who believe that a sucessful image must adhere to set rules, and the other extreme are those from a creative Bkg who believe in no rules what so ever.
I believe a photographer wishing to create a good image must balance both , the heart and the mind so to speak.
In this image, you tried to be creative with your crop... And you got the technicals correct as best you could under the circumstances.
And most importantly you got the shot...

Peter

Peter.

Just to say (a bit late) that I agree entirely with your comments. rules are meant to be broken!